Improvement in exhaust steam-engines and force-pumps



Patented March 5 1872;

v JOH N HOUPT. Improvement in Exhaust Steam Engines and Force Pumps.

Scale WITNESSES:

JOHN HOUPT, OF SPRINGTOVVN, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN EXHAUST STEAM=ENGENES AND FORCE-PUMPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 124,359, dated March 5, 1872.

Specification describing a certain Improved Exhaust Steam-Engine and Force-Pump, invented by JOHN .UOL'PT, of Springtown, in the county of Bucks and State of Pennsylvania.

My invention relates to the utilization of the exhaust or waste steam of any high-pressure steam-cylinder; ofany low-pressure steam-cylinder having my exhaust-steam dividing and selfclearing jet-condenser (patent reissued May 31, 1870) attached; or from any other convenient source of waste steam that may be at hand, by causing the said steam to operate a comparatively-large cylinder oil a low-pressure steam-engine, (either with or without a crank and fly-wheel attached,) by the condensation alone of said steam in the said low-pressure cylinder, ata pressure generally not much greater than the pressure of the atmosphere, and sometimes even a little below the pressure of the atmosphere, to drive a double-acting force-pump, constructed and arranged substantially as hereinafter described and set forth, for the purpose of supplying water to the steamboiler or generator, and for other purposes.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, A is the low-pressure steam-cylinder, to be operated bycondensation alone, (condenser not shown G, the steam-pipe to supply the said low-pressure steam-cylinderA with the exhaust or waste steam, as atoresaid. The said pipe G communicates with the low-pressure cylinder A by means of a branch-pipe, g, and also with a steam-jacket space, a, around the said cylinder A, by means of an inlet branch pipe, 9, and an outlet branch pipe, 9', the said exhaust-pipe Gr being provided with a pressureregulating valve, 9 located above the said branch pipes g g g. B is an inverted T-le- Yer supported upon its fulcrum, with its upright or longer arm I) articulated to the piston-rod a of the cylinder A by an intervening bar, F, and its two shorter arms, I) b, articulated, respectively, to the two plunger-rods of the plungers c c of the two like upright cylinders O G of the double acting force-pump, which is firmly secured and supported in a well or water-tank, D. The lower ends or base of spective branch conduits E E, provided with outlet-valves e 0'. Each of the conduit-pipes of the pipes E E has an adjustable valve or.

cock, 7 whereby the passage of the water through the pipe can be regulated in quantity, so as to control the speed of the piston of the steam-cylinder A. The supply-steam may be simultaneously conveyed through the'pipes G g 9 into both the steam-chest a of the cylinder A and the steam-jacket space a which surrounds the said cylinder A, an outlet-pipe, 9 allowing the steam inclosed by the jacket to communicate freely with the steam in the upper part of the main supply-pipe G, the object of the said steam-jacket and the branchpipes g and 9' being to keep up the temperature of the cylinder A by the passage of exhaust steam through the space at", substantially in the manner described in the patent granted to me dated the 27th day of June, 1871. At a short distance above the branch-pipe g the main pipe Gis provided with an upwardlyopening valve, 9 which is intended. to be adjusted to open from any slight pressure (above that of the atmosphere) of the steam in the said pipe G, because the piston of the low-pressure cylinderAis not intended to be moved by any pressure of said steam above that of the atmosphere, (because it would, to the same degree, lessen the efiective power of the-highpressure en gine,) but simply by a vacuum produced from the condensation of the steam in the cylinder A, before the piston. The exhaust steam in the pipe Gr enters the cylinder and follows the piston as it moves in the vacuum on its opposite side, and thus giving the required either the whole or a portion of the supplysteam may be caused or permitted to pass through the steamjacket space a before it enters the steam-chest a, as may be found desirable, at any time during the operation of the engine. The valve-rod a of the cylinder A is articulated to one end of a lever, H, (of the first order,) and the other end of said lever is operated by two adjustable pins or stops, f f", in the bar F, which alternately come in contact with the end of the lever H as the pistonrod a moves outward and inward, and thus vibrate the lever H on its fulcrum and operate the steam-chest valve of the cylinder A. The surfaceof the water in the tank D is to be kept up to the dotted line V W, for the purpose of insuring a full supply beneath the plungers. Now, if the cylinder A is operating with a good vacuum and with a full stroke, the plungers of the force-pump will alternately descendto the lowest point of their respective wedge-shaped openings 5 5, and no further, and, consequent- 1y, stop the passage of any of the water from beneath the plungers, but in such a gradual manner that there will not be any objectional hammering or jar produced; but, as it is not absolutely required that this exhaust steamengine should work at a full stroke of the piston, the adjustable stops ff in the bar F must be so adjusted as to move the lever H, and consequently the slide-valve in the steanr chest it, within such limits as may be found desirable to prevent any excessive strain upon the pump.

I claim as my invention- 1. lhe combination of the low-pressure cyl inder A and its surrounding steam-jacket space a" with the steam-conductin g pipes G g g g and their respective valves 9 8 8, in communication With the exhaust steam of any steamengine, the said mechanical devices being constructed and arranged to operate the low-pressure cylinder A by the pressure of the atmosphere upon one side of its piston, forcing the latter into the vacuum produced by the condensation of the steam at its opposite side within the cylinder, substantially in the manner hereinbet'ore set forth.

2. The bar F, which is articulated to the piston-rod a of the low-pressure cylinder A and to the upright arm I) of the pump-lever B, as set forth, in combination with the adjustable stops f f and with the lever H, which is articulated to the valve-rod a of said cylinder, as set forth, the said mechanical devices being arranged to operate the valve of the said steamcylinder A, and also to operate the lever B of the pump, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. In combination with the pump-lever B, actuated by the low-pressure steam-cylinder A, as described, the plungers c c in the respective cylinders C U, the respective wedgeshaped openings 5 5 in said cylinders, and the respective adjustable gaugecocks 7 7 in the exit-pipes e 0', arranged to operate together upon the water of the tank 1), substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

JOHN HOUPT. WVitnesses:

SAMUEL MANN, MADISON SHAFFER. 

